System and method for simulating performance of one or more data storage systems

ABSTRACT

This invention is a system and method for simulating performance of one or more data storage systems. This invention may be used in many useful ways including for configuring or modeling a data storage environment, problem isolation, and general design.

This application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application10/259,010 by Dan Aharoni et al., filed Sep. 27, 2002, and is assignedto the same assignee as this invention.

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains commandformats and other computer language listings, all of which are subjectto copyright protection. The copyright owner, EMC Corporation, has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to managing and analyzing data in adata storage environment, and more particularly to a system and methodfor simulating performance in such an environment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Computer systems are constantly improving in terms of speed,reliability, and processing capability. As is known in the art, computersystems which process and store large amounts of data typically includea one or more processors in communication with a shared data storagesystem in which the data is stored. The data storage system may includeone or more storage devices, usually of a fairly robust nature anduseful for storage spanning various temporal requirements, e.g. diskdrives. The one or more processors perform their respective operationsusing the storage system. Mass storage systems particular those of thedisk array type have centralized data as a hub of operations all drivingdown costs. But performance demands placed on such mass storage haveincreased and continue to do so.

Design objective for mass storage systems include cost, performance, andavailability. Objectives typically include are a low cost per megabyte,a high I/O performance, and high data availability. Availability ismeasured by the ability to access data. Often such data availability isprovided by use of redundancy such as well-known mirroring techniques.

One problem encountered in the implementation of disk array data storagesystems concerns optimizing the storage capacity while maintaining thedesired availability and reliability of the data through redundancy. Itis important to allocate as closely as possible the right amount ofstorage capacity with going over or under significantly because of costand necessity but this is a complex task. It has required great deal ofskill and knowledge about computers, software applications such asdatabases, and the very specialized field of data storage. Suchrequisite abilities have long been expensive and difficult to access.There remains and probably will be an increasing demand for andcorresponding scarcity of such skilled people.

Determining the size and number of disk array or other data storagesystem needed by a customer requires information about both space,traffic and a desired quality of service. It is not sufficient to size asolution simply based on the perceived quantity of capacity desired,such as the number of terabytes believed to be adequate.

In addition to general capacity planning problems with data storagesystems other complexities may arise. One such complexity arise whenthere is an interest in merging existing data storage systems with neweror fewer data storage systems. Such consolidation helps a customerreduce operating costs by decreasing the number of storage systems, andmigrating the data to fewer and/or newer, larger capacity, moreefficient storage systems. Consolidation may be of interest for some ofthe following reasons: saving footprint space; reducing the cost ofutilities; simplifying management and reducing management costs;reducing hardware inventory costs; and upgrading to new technology. Onthe other hand there are costs associated with such a change and thereis need for a simple tool to allow for the analysis of such a change andto determine an optimum solution, and in particular with regard toperformance requirements and desired characteristics.

There is a long-felt need for a computer-based tool that would allow astraight-forward non-complex way to allocate proper storage capacitywhile balancing cost, growth plans, workload, and performancerequirements and further if such a tool would be useful for analyzingconsolidation or merging operations. This would be advancement in thecomputer arts with particular relevance in the field of data storage.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To overcome the problems described above and to provide the advantagesalso described above, the present invention is a system and method forsimulating performance in a data storage environment. Such simulationsmay be used to isolate problem areas and for modeling and capacityplanning.

In one embodiment the method includes the steps of receivingconfiguration data related to the configuration of one or more datastorage systems, receiving performance characteristics of work performedon the one or more data storage systems, and then simulating performanceon the one or more data storage systems using the configuration data andperformance characteristics.

In an embodiment of a system a computer with display and memory areconfigured with computer-executable program logic capable of performingsteps similar or identical to those described above with reference tothe embodiment of the method.

In another embodiment, a program product includes a computer-readablemedium having code included on the medium configured to carry outcomputer-executed steps that are similar or identical to those describedabove with reference to the embodiment of the method.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and further advantages of the present invention may be betterunder stood by referring to the following description taken intoconjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a data storage environment including aperformance simulation system configured for carrying out method stepsof this invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow logic illustrating an overview of an embodiment ofmethod steps of this invention carried out by the performance system ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flow logic diagram further showing illustrating theembodiment of method steps shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is another flow logic diagram further showing illustrating theembodiment of method steps shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is another flow logic diagram further showing illustrating theembodiment of method steps shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is another flow logic diagram further showing illustrating theembodiment of method steps shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is an exemplary representation of a user interface screen forallowing use of this invention;

FIG. 8 is another exemplary representation of a user interface screenfor allowing use of this invention;

FIG. 9 is another exemplary representation of a user interface screenfor allowing use of this invention;

FIG. 10 is another exemplary representation of a user interface screenfor allowing use of this invention;

FIG. 11 is another exemplary representation of a user interface screenfor allowing use of this invention;

FIG. 12 is another exemplary representation of a user interface screenfor allowing use of this invention

FIG. 13 is another exemplary representation of a user interface screenfor allowing use of this invention;

FIG. 14 is another exemplary representation of a user interface screenfor using this invention; and

FIG. 15 shows the performance simulation tool of FIG. 1 including thecomputer-executable program code of the preferred embodiment andincluding a computer-readable medium encoded with thecomputer-executable program code for enabling the method of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The methods and apparatus of the present invention are intended for usewith data storage systems, such as the Symmetrix Integrated Cache DiskArray system available from EMC Corporation of Hopkinton, Mass.Specifically, this invention is directed to a method and system forsimulating performance of one or more data storage systems and which maybe useful for applications such storage capacity planning, performanceanalysis, and problem and fault isolation in a storage environmentdesign.

The methods and apparatus of this invention may take the form, at leastpartially, of program code (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangiblemedia, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, random access orread only-memory, or any other machine-readable storage medium. When theprogram code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as acomputer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention.The methods and apparatus of the present invention may be embodied inthe form of program code that is transmitted over some transmissionmedium, such as over electrical wiring or cabling, through fiber optics,or via any other form of transmission. And may be implemented such thatwhen the program code is received and loaded into and executed by amachine, such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus forpracticing the invention. When implemented on a general-purposeprocessor, the program code combines with the processor to provide aunique apparatus that operates analogously to specific logic circuits.

The program code (software-based logic) for carrying out the method isembodied as part of the system described below beginning with referenceto FIG. 1. One aspect of the invention is embodied as a method that isdescribed below with reference to FIGS. 3-6. User Interface Screens forusing the invention are shown in FIGS. 7-14.

Referring now to FIG. 1, reference is now made to a network or localsystem 100 for which the invention is particularly useful and typicallyincludes a plurality of data storage systems, such as data storagesystem 100, 102, and 104. The data storage systems are useful if thesimulation system tool 114 including computer-executable program code342 is to use configuration data 106, 108, and 110 of the respectivedata storage systems in conjunction with workload characteristics formthe preferred workload analyzer 112 files (.btp format available as partof EMC's ECC software program; EMC Corporation is based in Hopkinton,Mass.). However optionally, the simulation tool 114 may use user ormodel data 116 if there are not specific data storage systems (generallyn−n+i) to be merged into fewer systems than n+1, e.g., target or modeldata storage system 124. The target system 124 may also be derived fromthe user of model data operated on by the data storage simulation toolusing the workload files 112, to yield a capacity planning analysis 118,a system and component performance analysis. The merge analysis 122specifically envisions the need to merge the n+1 storage systems into atarget system.

The simulation system or tool preferably uses software 342 for carryingout the method steps described in method steps shown in FIGS. 2-6 andmay work on a general purpose digital computer turning such a computerinto a special purpose computer comprising an apparatus for carrying outthe processes of this invention. The software may be used with any typeof data storage system but has been used with a preferred EMC Symmetrixsystem and may also be used with an EMC Clariion data storage system aswell as those of other manufacturers. For exemplary purposes an EMC datastorage system is described in the method steps and in conjunction withthe user interface screens shown in FIGS. 7-14.

As has been stated, in a preferred embodiment the data storage system tobe configured is a Symmetrix Integrated Cache Disk Array available fromEMC Corporation of Hopkinton, Mass. However, it will be apparent tothose with skill in the art that there is no limit to the use of thisinvention for any system including data storage. Nevertheless, regardingthe preferred embodiment, such a data storage system and itsimplementation is fully described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,101,497 issued Aug.8, 2000, and also in U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,939 issued Apr. 27, 1993, eachof which is assigned to EMC the assignee of this invention and each ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference. Consequently, the followingdiscussion makes only general references to the operation of suchsystems.

Generally a Symmetrix data storage system includes a system memory andsets or pluralities and of multiple data storage devices or data stores.The system memory can comprise a buffer or cache memory; the storagedevices in the pluralities and can comprise disk storage devices,optical storage devices and the like. However, in a preferred embodimentthe storage devices are disk storage devices. The sets represent anarray of storage devices in any of a variety of known configurations.

In such a data storage system, a computer or host adapter providescommunications between a host system and the system memory and diskadapters and provides pathways between the system memory and the storagedevice pluralities. Regarding terminology related to the preferredSymmetrix system, from the host adapter toward the computer or host issometimes referred to as the front end and from the disk adapters towardthe disks is sometimes referred to as the back end. A bus interconnectsthe system memory, the host adapters and the disk adapters. Although notshown such a bus could be used with switches to provide discrete accessto components of the system.

Each system memory is used by various elements within the respectivesystems to transfer information and interact between the respective hostadapters and disk adapters. A service processor may also be used incommunication with system memory particularly for maintenance, serviceneeds, and collection of performance data. The service processor istypically a well-known laptop computer, i.e. a general-purpose digitalcomputer, but which may be outfitted with the software-driven simulationsystem 114 of this invention to comprise a special purpose digitalcomputer for carrying out the processes of this invention.

The simulation system or tool 114 may be used to determine thefeasibility of consolidating a number of storage systems to fewer ornewer data storage system units, this is sometimes referred to as a“merge” operation. The tool is useful for examining and calculating theutilization of components within the system to be consolidated ormerged, such a system may be referred to as a source for a consolidatingor merging operation. The tool may also be used to evaluate theperformance of a number of different workloads on one or more datastorage systems, including a system for which others are merged into,which may be referred to as a target configuration or system. When thetool is used for planning purposes the optimum system derived from theanalysis may also be the target system even though no merge operationmay be planned, and in such a case user desired performance data may beused to arrive at such a target.

The tool 114 helps to define consolidation mapping and evaluates whetherthis mapping is favorable for a new upgrade data storage system in termsof performance. The tool may be further used to examine the utilizationof components within the new target data storage system and generates anear optimal file (e.g. binary file) that can be used for such aconfiguration.

All the utilization and calculations are based on modeling the internaloperations and processes inside the target data storage system. Theaccuracy of the calculations is based on the accuracy of the inputworkload, which is discussed in more detail below. If the workloadchanges, this evaluation may change significantly. The tool 114 analyzesthe utilization of components, as well as the entire system, and may beused for considering workloads from data storage systems being used withOpen Systems host computers and Mainframe host computer systems usingproprietary schemes.

FIG. 15 shows a tool 114 as generally including a general purposeddigital computer including memory 340 (e.g., conventional electronicmemory) in which is stored computer-executable program code 342 thatenables the method of the invention (FIGS. 2-6) and enables display ofuser screens (FIGS. 7-14) on display 346 to comprise GUI 342. Thegeneral-purpose digital computer becomes a specialized unique and novelmachine because of the code or logic 342, which in a preferredembodiment is software but may be hardware. Logic or code 342 may alsobe stored and read for operation on computer readable medium 352. A userinput device 350, such as a well-known mouse or keyboard allows the userto interface with the computer including its special logic.

An Embodiment of Method Steps of the Invention

Now for a better understanding of an embodiment of method steps of thisinvention the steps are described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3-6,which are explained with reference to user interface display screensshown in FIGS. 7-14.

Referring to FIG. 2, an overview of the method steps of simulation isshown, wherein the simulation action may include some or all of thesteps shown. In step 130 input is given by a user or under computercontrol for configuration, workload, and/or user performance data. Instep 132, the simulation tool 114 analyzes the system load and percent(%) utilization of each component in the system. Percent utilizationrefers to the amount of time a component or system is working versus itsrespective idle time. Using the analysis model target configurations canbe determined in step 132 and the load may be balanced and/or the modeltarget optimized for performance in step 136. Specifically how thegeneral steps are carried out depend on the objectives of the user, i.e.using the tool for merging of two or more data storage systems orperformance analysis for optimization or capacity planning or faultisolation and general design purposes. Other uses for the tool may occurto those skilled in the art in view of the teachings herein, and suchuses should not limited except by the claims appearing herein and theirequivalents, which may not be presently foreseeable.

Reference is made below to FIGS. 3-6, more specific road-map type ofmethod steps for employing this invention are given and are bestunderstood with reference to user screens shown in FIGS. 7-14. In FIG.6, step 140 is directed toward “Add Box,” which means determine whethera data storage system is to be merged, and if so its configuration datais added in step 142. The configuration data available from cache of thepreferred Symmetrix or a service processor in communication with thedata storage system is typically a binary (.bin) file that is added instep 142, and workload characteristics may be also loaded from thepreferred EMC ECC Workload Analyzer (a .btp format) file in step 146.Alternatively if using user data in step 150, the workloadcharacteristics desired, predicted, or needed based on the type ofapplications being processed on the data storage system can be added.For a particular data storage system, and for each type of I/O, thesimulation tool 114 maintains a database of each component's execution,including factors such as time of execution and operation executed oneach such component.

Performance characteristics such as IO operations are considered thatinclude number of read hits, read misses, sequential reads, leastrecently used writes (i.e., re-writes), and write pending operations. Awrite operation means data is requested to be placed on the disk whereasa read operation means data is requested to be viewed but not changedand typically this involves loading from disk or electronic memory suchas cache. Such cache or system memory is often employed to avoidmechanical lags associated with actual disk reads or writes. A randomread hit means that data requested to be read from a random request wasfound in cache. On the other hand a random read miss means the data wasnot found in cache in response to a similar request. Sequential readsrefers to a situation where a read request following an immediatepreceding request is for data stored on disk in an immediately followingsequence such as a data block. In such a case, cache can be used quiteeffectively to avoid going to disk, e.g., by pre-fetching a certainamount of sequentially arranged data from disk into cache. LeastRecently Used writes (LRU writes) refer to regular writes to cache,which require standard LRU management. Write Pending writes (WP writes)refer to writes which are written into write pending (WP) slots incache, which enable a more efficient write operation in terms ofresource usage. An example of WP writes are cases where the same addressin written and re-written a number of times over and over.

Whether using data storage system data (step 148) or user data (step150), continuation step A flows into identical continuation step A shownon FIG. 4, and which in turn flows into step 154. In step 154, the usermay deselect ports and/or volumes, which will decrease the workload onthe data storage system, this may be done using the user interfacescreens described with reference to FIGS. 7-14 below. In step 156, theuser may then check the check active configuration after such an actionfor meeting requirements, and then the system performance simulationsystem or tool can analyze system load in step 158 and calculateutilizations in step 160. If more boxes are to be added into a mergethen the answer is “YES,” to the query posed in the interrogatory step162, and continuation Step B flows back into Step 140 of FIG. 3, and aloop of steps 140-162 repeats until the answer to the question is “No,”and processing flows into continuation Step C which in turn flows toFIG. 5.

Referring now to FIG. 5, after continuation Step C, the targetconfiguration may be determined in Step 164. The system load for thetarget is calculated in Step 166, and a balanced target utilization iscalculated in Step 168, so that if needed configuration values may beadjusted in step 170. If the values are to be adjusted (“yes,” to thequery of Step 170, then processing flows to continuation step E which inturn flows to Step 164 and the steps 164-170 are repeated until thequery answer is “No.” In such case, processing flows to continuationStep D and then to FIG. 6.

Referring to FIG. 6, following Continuation Step D, in a preferredembodiment, the back end of the target storage system may be optimized,creating a binary file in Step 172 and the front end similarly optimizedin Step 174. Then a component analysis in Step 176 will identify anyproblem components or areas, which will be further explained withreference to FIGS. 11-14 below. If the performance is acceptable, or thequery posed in step 178, then the merge consolidation is consideredcomplete in step 180, but if not then continuation E is followed toreturn processing back to Step 164 (FIG. 5) and a loop continues throughto Step 178 until the performance is deemed acceptable. Techniques forincreasing performance and in accordance with the steps above includereconfigure the data storage system to have more resources, or ‘faster’components, such as Fibre channel and over the well-known SCSIinterfaces.

Example of user interface screens for carrying out some or all of themethod steps described above are shown in FIGS. 7-14. Referring to FIG.7, screen 190 including menu action bar 192 with user actions 192 (e.g.,file, box, target, optimize, reports, tools, and help) is presented fora user who wishes to merge or consolidate data storage systems asdescribed above. Clicking on the “Source Boxes” field 196, presents userinformation area 198, including “Source Box,” “Max IO's/sec,” “maxMB/sec,” and may also contain other performance characteristics fields(not shown for simplicity). A message area 200 is available forconveying related information to a user. The user may specify the numberof target boxes for the merge in field 202. Field area 204, inclusivelyhas several action field buttons including “Add Box,” “TargetConfiguration,” “Balanced Utilization,” and “Per Component Analysis.”

In FIG. 8, an example screen 206 is shown. Once a user has made aparticular box selection identified in field area 208 (in this example“Box_1”) the type of desired action may be chosen using the Optionsbutton 210. Field area 212 shows a balanced option selected to a currentsystem for consolidation (the volumes included are shown in the messagearea) 213. Field area 218 allows selection of whether a data storagesystem data (e.g. Symmetrix or Symm Data) or user data, and then aselection of a configuration binary file to load. Other actionsselectable in user area 218 include “Load WLA btp file,” whereinperformance characteristics are selected from the preferred WLA file asdescribed above. Other user-selectable actions include “Calculate SystemLoad,” “Analyze Load,” “Enter User Data,” “Configuration,” and“Utilization.” The user may also estimate the amount of growth expected,e.g. 10%.

FIG. 9 shows a user interface screen 220 useful for checking andadjusting a configuration of a data storage system, either the targetsystem or one under investigation. Conveniently, there are two actiontabs provided in the screen window: “Complete” tab 224 and “Active” tab226. The Complete tab displays the configuration found in the preferredImpl.bin file and displays the configuration of the entire system. A“Box Type” tab in the presented window area of tab 224 allows the userto select the appropriate data storage system type, e.g., the exampleSymmetrix 5× or Symmetrix 4.8 type systems. Selecting the appropriatesystem allows the simulation tool 114 to adjust the resources to reflectthe user's choice. For example, the number of logical volumes (#LVs) inthe Complete window shows the total number of logical volumes in thebox, whether or not they are mapped to the back end in the preferredexample Symmetrix data storage system.

FIG. 10 shows the window presented on screen 220 when the Activeconfiguration tab is selected. This window displays only the activeresources (e.g., channels/logical volumes) a user has selected, andtakes into account only the active resources chosen. The number oflogical volumes (#LVs) in the Active window shows only the number ofactive logical volumes (those that contribute to the system load). Otherinformation is also presented which one skilled in the art willrecognize that in combination with the method steps and the systemoverview presented above provides an advancement in the computer arts.This invention is not to be limited by the examples given, but only bythe claims and their equivalents, some of which may not be foreseeableat present.

FIG. 11 shows a component analysis map screen 230 of an entire datastorage system. The tool 114 enables a user to view utilization of eachcomponent in a source or target data storage system. The option isprovided to view in graphical (FIGS. 12 and 13, discussed below) or mapformat (FIG. 11). The mapped view represents the maximum utilization ofeach component over all the timestamps or per a particular timestamp(i.e. point in time). A title area 232 and action menu bar area 234serve to respectively inform and allow the user to interact inconventional ways of Windows based software. However, the rest of themapped view presents a completely novel way for a user to explore theutilization and potential problems of a target or current data storagesystem. Area 238 generally shows the utilization of each component,which is color coded, e.g. using red to identify over-used components(shown here in FIG. 11, as graphically coded due to lack of colordrawings used herein) to a usage chart shown in Legend area 236. Atimestamp area 240 allows the user to look at usage over any selectedtime.

Generally, regarding identification of components in the presentedwindow of screen 230, the following applies, for this example. Presentedfrom top to bottom on screen 230 (FIG. 11) are: area 243: front-endports; area 244: front-end CPUs; area 245: front-end boards (i.e. thecomponents on board to the bus; area 246: memory boards; area 247:buses; area 248: back-end boards; area 249: back-end CPUs; area 250back-end ports; area 251: physical disks identified by volume id's. Thisexample is of course for the preferred exemplary case of an EMCSymmetrix Data Storage System. However, one skilled in the art willrecognize the general mapping scheme would apply to any data storagesystem other than the exemplary case.

Returning to the exemplary case shown in FIG. 11, when a mouse cursor ismoved over a component screen representation, e.g. example componentscreen representation 242 in general screen area 247 the utilization isshown presented on the screen for the user to read. In the presentedexample, The Bus-top low: is being used at 92% utilization at the time12:24. This implies alarmingly high traffic and alerts a user ofpotential problem areas to address for the target or current system. Itshould be understood, that the invention enables, although not shown inthe drawings simple text messages (not shown) related to utilization orother performance considerations. Also, a user can simply tell a lot byglancing at the easy to read map, e.g. many disk drives, e.g. volume1A-0 are being under-utilized, 10% in the example, while others, e.g.volume 9A-0 are being used at a good rate of about 40%. Thus, theinvention, along with its other advantages, is also useful fordetermining utilization of each component in a system and fordetermining utilization of a system itself, whether the system is beingcurrently employed or is one being simulated, or modeled, for designpurposes or for consolidation or capacity planning or generalperformance analysis. Moreover, the simplicity of using the tool 114allows those with simple skills in the computer area to makewell-reasoned decisions regarding data storage, heretofore, an arearequiring complex skills and a wealth of hard-earned experience.

Reference is made below to FIGS. 12-14. FIGS. 12 and 13 show aperformance graph 254 and 256 on screens 250 and 260, respectively. FIG.12 shows utilization for an entire data storage system, while FIG. 13depicts what is visible for a user who selects a particular component,in general component selection 258 (FIG. 12) and 263 (FIG. 13) whereinin this example front-end boards for a preferred EMC Symmetrix datastorage system are selected in field selection area 264 (also FIG. 13).For each screen, a toolbar 252 is located at the top of the screen. Thetoolbar contains buttons for performing tasks such as saving andprinting the chart in a format generally known by users of operatingsystems such as Microsoft. The vertical axis on graphs 254 and 260(FIGS. 12 and 13, respectively) represents resource utilization inpercentages. The horizontal axis represents time periods for givenworkloads. The lines or performance curves in the graph show snapshotsof the utilization data over specified time periods. FIG. 14 is a screen280 showing a graphical map 282 of utilization of just the disks thatare individually identified by volume identifier area 282. Area 284allows user selection similar to that described above with reference toFIGS. 12 and 13.

When considering utilizations the following points are factored by thetool and the user may also consider when using the tool. Consider thefollowing when analyzing utilizations. Loads and utilizations do notnecessarily behave empirically in a linear manner. For example, if onemeasures a 60% utilization for a particular workload, adding 10% to thisworkload may result in a 90% utilization, not 70%, as one might expect.Therefore when analyzing utilization, it is good practice to considergranularity or resolution. Utilization calculation is based on reports,which average the data on a very large granularity, but real I/O burstsin a typical workload environment that a customer may see. Inconsideration of this the simulation tool offers through the userinterface screens described herein two options: a “Balanced” optionassumes the load to be evenly distributed between all the resources, anda “Per Component” option reports the actual utilization for eachcomponent. The analysis of the utilizations for a given data storagesystem may be different for different components. The X-axis on theUtilization charts warns the user of potential bottlenecks and variousoptions and changes are allowed to reach desired optimization in view ofthe analysis.

A system and method for simulating performance on one or more datastorage systems and using such simulation information has beendescribed. Having described a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, it may occur to skilled artisans to incorporate theseconcepts into other embodiments. Nevertheless, this invention should notbe limited to the disclosed embodiment, but rather only by the spiritand scope of the following claims and their equivalents.

1. A method, performed on a computer system, for simulating performanceon one or more data storage systems configured as a target system, themethod comprising the steps of: receiving configuration data related tothe configuration options of each of the one or more data storagesystems; receiving performance characteristics of work performed on theone or more data storage systems, said characteristics selected from thegroup consisting of: time of execution and operation executed;maintaining a database for each of the data storage systems' performancecharacteristics; configuring selected ones of the one or more datasystems as the target system dependent upon the objectives of the user;said objectives selected from the group consisting of: data systemmerger, optimization, capacity planning, fault isolation and design; anddetermining performance of the configured target system by simulatingoperation of the one or more selected data storage systems usingassociated configuration data and performance characteristics.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, and further comprising: performing a storagemanagement function after performing the step of simulating performanceon the one or more data storage systems.
 3. The method of claim 2,wherein the storage management function is a performance modelingfunction.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the storage managementfunction is a storage capacity planning function.
 5. The method of claim2, wherein the storage management function is a consolidation of one ormore data storage systems that may be denominated as one or more sourcedata storage systems into one other data storage system that may bedenominated as a target data storage system.
 6. The method of claim 5,wherein the one or more source data storage system or the target datastorage system is configured to be load balanced in accordance withinformation yielded from the step of simulating operation on the one ormore data storage systems.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein the one ormore source data storage systems or the target data storage system isconfigured to be at least partially optimized for performance inaccordance with information yielded from the step of simulatingoperation on the one or more data storage systems.
 8. A system forsimulating performance activity on one or more data storage systems, thesystem comprising: a computer having a memory and a display; andcomputer-executable program code stored in the memory and accessed bythe computer, wherein the computer-executable program code is configuredto cause the computer to execute the steps of: receiving configurationdata related to the configuration options of each of the one or moredata storage systems dependent upon the objectives of the user, saidobjectives selected from the group consisting of: data system merger,optimization, capacity planning, fault isolation and design; receivingoperation characteristics of work performed on the one or more datastorage systems; and simulating performance on the one or more datastorage systems using the configuration data and performancecharacteristics.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the program code isfurther configured to cause the computer to execute the step of:performing a storage management function after performing the step ofsimulating operation of the one or more data storage systems.
 10. Thesystem of claim 9, wherein the storage management function is aperformance modeling function.
 11. The system of claim 9, wherein thestorage management function is a storage capacity planning function. 12.The system of claim 9, wherein the storage management function is aconsolidation of one or more data storage systems that may bedenominated as one or more source data storage systems into one otherdata storage system that may be denominated as a target data storagesystem.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more source datastorage systems or the target data storage system is configured to beload balanced in accordance with information yielded from the step ofsimulating operation on the one or more data storage systems.
 14. Thesystem of claim 12, wherein the one or more source data storage systemsor the target data storage system is configured to be at least partiallyoptimized for performance in accordance with information yielded fromthe step of simulating operation on the one or more data storagesystems.
 15. A program product for simulating performance activity onone or more data storage systems, the program product including acomputer readable medium with computer-executable program codeconfigured for causing the following computer-executed steps to occur:receiving configuration data related to the configuration options ofeach of the one or more data storage systems dependent upon theobjectives of the user, said objectives selected from the groupconsisting of: data system merger, optimization, capacity planning,fault isolation and design; receiving performance characteristics ofwork performed on the one or more data storage systems; and simulatingoperation on the one or more data storage systems using associatedconfiguration data and performance characteristics.
 16. The programproduct of claim 15, wherein the program code is further configured forperforming a storage management function after performing the step ofsimulating operation of the one or more data storage systems.
 17. Theprogram product of claim 16, wherein the storage management function isa performance modeling function.
 18. The program product of claim 16,wherein the storage management function is a storage capacity planningfunction.
 19. The program product of claim 16, wherein the storagemanagement function is a consolidation of one or more data storagesystems that may be denominated as one or more source data storagesystems into one other data storage system which may be denominated as atarget data storage system.
 20. The program product of claim 19, whereinthe one or more source data storage systems or the target data storagesystem is configured to be load balanced in accordance with informationyielded from the step of simulating operation on the one or more datastorage systems.
 21. The program product of claim 19, wherein the one ormore source data storage systems or the target data storage system isconfigured to be at least partially optimized for performance inaccordance with information yielded from the step of simulatingoperation on the one or more data storage systems.
 22. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the step of configuring further comprises the steps of:designating selected ones of the one or more data storage systems as afront-end system; designating the remaining ones of the one or more datastorage systems as a back-end system.
 23. The method of claim 22,wherein the step of determining performance comprises the steps of:simulating, independently, operation of the front-end system and theback-end system; and combining the results of the simulations as aperformance of the target system.
 24. The system of claim 8, wherein thestep of configuring further comprises the steps of: designating selectedones of the one or more data storage systems as a front-end system;designating the remaining ones of the one or more data storage systemsas a back-end system.
 25. The system of claim 24, wherein the step ofdetermining performance comprises the steps of: simulating,independently, operation of the front-end system and the back-endsystem; and combining the results of the simulations as a performance ofthe target system.
 26. The program product of claim 15, wherein the stepof configuring further comprises the steps of: designating selected onesof the one or more data storage systems as a front-end system; anddesignating the remaining ones of the one or more data storage systemsas a back-end system.
 27. The program product of claim 26, wherein thestep of determining performance comprises the steps of: simulating,independently, operation of the front-end system and the back-endsystem; and combining the results of the simulations as a performance ofthe target system.